Rice University students to de-stress with therapy pets during finals week, Dec. 12-14

HOUSTON – (Dec. 6, 2013) – Rice University students will have the opportunity to mingle, de-stress and share hugs with dogs of various breeds during finals week, Dec. 12-14, at the university’s Fondren Library, 6100 Main St.

The library has asked Houston pet therapy organization Faithful Paws to bring its friendly canines to the first-floor reference collection area of Fondren from 5 to 9 p.m. Dec. 12, from 3 to 9 p.m. Dec. 13 and from 1 to 5 p.m. Dec. 14.

Fondren Library held its first two therapy dog sessions during finals last December and April and received overwhelmingly positive feedback from students, according to library staff members.

For more information about Faithful Paws, a program founded in 1997 and sponsored by Bellaire United Methodist Church, visit www.faithfulpawshouston.com.

Media interested in covering one of the pet therapy sessions should RSVP to Amy Hodges, senior media relations specialist at Rice, at amy.hodges@rice.edu or 713-348-6777.

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This media advisory can be found online at http://news-network.rice.edu/news.

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Photo courtesy: Rice University

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,708 undergraduates and 2,374 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice has been ranked No. 1 for best quality of life multiple times by the Princeton Review and No. 2 for “best value” among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. To read “What they’re saying about Rice,” go to http://tinyurl.com/AboutRiceU.

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